DealBook Online

Published: October 11, 2011

PAINFUL LOSS Tired of incessant leaks to the media about its poor performance, Paulson & Company, the hedge fund started by the billionaire John A. Paulson, below, decided a few weeks ago to amend its reporting policies to make it harder to obtain performance data.

But the changes failed to obscure this painful fact: One of his largest funds is down 47 percent through September, a loss that would require returns of almost 100 percent to surmount, according to investors in the fund. AZAM AHMED

NEW INTERPRETATION Groupon has made it clear that it doesn't want to act like the usual boring business. On Monday, the online coupon giant proved that yet again, putting a new spin on transparency.

The company wrote in a blog post that it had begun deliberately undercounting the number of times a deal had been purchased by consumers, by anywhere from half a percentage point to about 19.5 percent. As the company cheekily wrote in its post: ''We're blogging about it to be transparent about our lack of transparency.'' MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

'BEST' CLAIMS The Justice Department and the New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, filed separate civil charges last week against Bank of New York Mellon, accusing it of defrauding customers of its foreign exchange services.

According to White Collar Watch, the cases raise sticky questions about when marketing claims cross the imperceptible line from puffery to fraud. PETER J. HENNING

BUYING A RIVAL Superior Energy Services, an oil field services company based in New Orleans, agreed to buy a competitor, Complete Production Services, for about $2.7 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, investors in Complete, based in Houston, will receive 0.945 of Superior common stock and $7 in cash. That is about 29 percent above Complete's two-month average stock price. MARK SCOTT